Philosophical Roots of Socionics
Gulenko V.V. Philosophical Roots of Socionics
1. The basic scheme of epistemology
The focus of epistemology (the philosophical theory of knowledge) is the category of rational (= logical). From the point of view of socionics, this category in philosophy is not uniquely defined. One of three completely different meanings is embedded in it in different texts or by different authors:
| rational | —— as opposed to sensual |
| —— as opposed to the intuitive | |
| —— as opposed to emotional |
The disadvantage of this scheme is not so much that its central term is very ambiguous, as in the inability to distinguish which of the concepts of polarity are mutually exclusive, and which are adjacent, implying (generating) each other.
Most often in philosophical literature, rationality means a complex logical-rational principle (logical-intuitive or logical-sensory). Separate the rational from the logical and consider them as separate categories in philosophy is not accepted.
The socionic (Jung) pattern of relations between epistemological substances is as follows: Intuitive Ethical Logical Sensory
It is interesting to note that Jung completed his scheme, apparently pushing off from the Austrian philosopher and psychologist Franz Brentano (1838 - 1917), the discoverer of mental functions. F. Brentano believed that the interaction of a subject and an object (an intentional act) is revealed in three functions:
- ideation, that is, the representation of an object in the form of an abstract image (Jung's function of intuition),
- judgment of the presented image as true or false (Jung function of thinking),
- emotional assessment of the image as desired or rejected (Jung function of feeling).
As we see, Jung's scheme is a supplement of the fourth component (sensory) classification of F. Brentano.
The historical series of philosophical concepts, taken integrally, reflects precisely the four-dimensional scheme of the world’s understanding of the human psyche. Each philosophical concept in isolation is only a reduction to one (less often two) of the aspects (sensory, ethical, logical or ideational) of the general epistemological scheme.
2. Gnoseological dichotomy of the 20th century
When one delves into the controversies of the dominant philosophical theories of our time, the conclusion is that the main epistemological dichotomy in the 20th century is the polar pair of the categories “Elementary Love - Holism”.
Elementaryism, also known as atomism, proceeds from the proposition that the behavior of a system is determined by the properties of its constituent elements - further indecomposable parts. Any one element, property, factor is chosen as the main one, therefore elementarism usually appears in the form of reductionism or monism.
Holism (from the Greek. Holos - the whole) states the opposite: the behavior of the system is determined not by its elements, but by stable valence bonds between them, that is, a complete, though not filled, structure that exists initially. The whole is interpreted as irreducible to the sum of its parts.
The socionical position on this issue is antithetical: in some cases, the integral type of a group, for example, is characterized by the predominance of certain sociotypes in it (elementarism), in other cases, integration is carried out through the derivation of a unifying group independent of relationship types (holism). Which of these two methodologies (or both of them) to resort to, is determined by the criterion of closeness and duration of the communications that structure the group.
Holism, put on a rational basis, received in science the generally accepted name of a systems approach. The origins of the systemic paradigm should be sought first in biology, from which social humanities borrowed the idea of organicism, as well as ecology, which developed the principle of homeostasis and biocenosis - the dynamic equilibrium of the organism with its environment.
The polarity of "elementarism-holism" is closely related to the socionic dichotomy of "extraversion-introversion". Elementaryism, which recognizes the element as the decisive factor, and not the system as a whole, psychologically reflects the extrovert, expansionary position of the individual seeking to impose his own rules on the social system. Holism, on the contrary, sacrificing the activity of a separate element as a sacrifice of a stable whole, reflects the psychology of the person’s subordination to the system of established relations, presenting nothing more than introverted behavior as a norm.
Thus, the statement of a holistic system in science is, first of all, the introvertization of the theory. The concept of relative (introverted) socionics was presented by me in a series of reports at two previous socionic conferences held by the IIA in 1996 and 1995.
3. Structuralism as a source of socionics
An analysis of the development of the humanities in this century shows that structuralism is a broad course of social thought (linguistics, literary criticism, psychology, anthropology) as the philosophical and methodological source of modern socionics , which took shape in the 20s – 40s of the 20th century.
The main task of structuralism is formulated as the identification of the internal structure of the object under study, the totality of relations between the elements of the whole, which retain their stability during any transformation of the object. The concept of socionic type was built on the same methodological basis.
The main centers of structuralism were the Geneva School of Linguistics (F. de Saussure), Prague, Copenhagen, New York linguistic circles, the American school of semiotics by C. Pearce and J. Morris, Russian formalism, C. Levi Stross structural anthropology, structural psychoanalysis by J. Lacan, M. Foucault's structure of knowledge, R. Jacobson's structural linguistic poetics.
In psychology, there was also a trend called structuralism (founder - V. Wundt, leader in the USA - E. Titchener). However, it has nothing to do with the methodology of system structuralism of the 20th century (except for analyticity). On the contrary, psychological structuralism expressed precisely the anticholist, frankly elementary tendency. The system-holistic approach at the beginning of the century was embodied in Gestalt psychology.
By the end of the 60s, structuralism had exhausted itself as a methodological area. He was replaced by the so-called poststructuralism - an irrational research paradigm that rejects the presence of stable, homeostatic structures in the human personality and culture. However, structuralism has picked up the socionics, which has to wage a stubborn struggle for survival, to repel the onslaught of the current poststructurally oriented psychology.
4. Quaternary paradigm of current socionics
Tetratoma (Quaternary) constructed by Jung is a model of an equifinal structure - such an education, which is directed in its development by the final (target according to Aristotle) cause.
As an example of the evolution of the epistemological system to the state of the four, consider the Socratic schools of ancient philosophy. As is known from historical sources, after the death of Socrates, who introduced anthropological (ethical) issues to ancient Greek philosophy, four Socratic schools were formed:
- Kinicheskaya (founder Antisfen), who rejected the sensory side of life and emphasized the intuitive principle,
- Kirenskaya (founder Aristippus), who preached the priority of sensory, hedonistic principles,
- Megar (the founder of Euclid), who developed the dialectic - the logical methods of philosophical controversy,
- Elido-Eretrias (founder Fedon), directly continuing the ethical issues of Socrates.
Similarly, the unified socionics of Aushra Augustinavichiute found its continuation in the four-fold dispersed Kiev school. A. Boukalov develops “intuitive” socionics, A. Didenko works in the field of “sensory” socionics, V. Ermak adopted the logical side of Aushra’s teachings, and my part was ethical in interpreting the typological system.
Literature
- Yaroshevsky MG History of psychology. From antiquity to the middle of the twentieth century: Textbook for higher educational institutions. 2nd ed. - M .: "Academy", 1997, p. 202.
- Windelband V. History of ancient philosophy. Per. with him. by ed. A.I. Vvedensky. - Kiev: "Tandem", 1995, p. 121 - 133.
- Modern foreign literary studies (Western European and US countries): concepts, schools, terms. Encyclopedic reference. - Moscow: Intrada - INION, - 1996, p. 145.
- Brief philosophical encyclopedia. - M., "Progress" - "Encyclopedia", 1994, p. 503.
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